Following on from our reader-voted Top 50 Games of the Decade, Nintendo Life staff members will be picking their personal favourite Nintendo games between the years 2010-2019. Today, Ryan looks back at how a smartphone title took the world by storm and proved him completely wrong - in a good way...

Hold it, let me stop you right there. I know exactly what you’re thinking: “Pokémon GO can't even hold a Litwick to something like Breath of the Wild, you absolute numpty”. Well, I completely agree with you (apart from that last bit, maybe) but love it or hate it, Niantic's monster-catching mobile hit was - and remains - something very special.

As you'd probably expect from someone who writes about gaming for a living, I've spent pretty much my entire life up until this point spending unhealthy amounts of time playing 'classic' games. Whether it was the very best Mario platformers and Zelda epics, or the wonder of isolated Metroid adventures and pretty much every single Pokémon game under the sun, I've always been someone who prefers a traditional, single-player experience over anything else, ever since I was about six years old.

A recent update saw your Buddy Pokémon walk around with you on the map

Coming from that background, the very idea of free-to-play games and their fun-restricting paywall setups have always grinded my gears. When Pokémon GO was first announced, I had absolutely no interest in playing it and even made a point to ignore it. "It's the principle", I would say, naively depriving myself of any enjoyment it might provide because my precious Pokémon shouldn't be subjected to such treason.

But then Pokémania happened. When GO launched in 2016, it was everywhere - and I mean everywhere. Suddenly, everyone who would laugh at me for liking Pokémon at school was playing. Suddenly the entire world was playing. It was just like how I remember Pokémon as a kid, with talk of the franchise being everywhere you go, and I just couldn't resist jumping in and downloading it for the first time. I'm glad I did.

The game actually gets that horrid free-to-play system completely right in my opinion - I still haven't spent a penny despite clocking hundreds of hours in it - but as is the case with most mobile titles, the gameplay itself will never pull me in as much as a new single-player epic on Switch ever could. Instead, my reasoning for voting this as my Game of the Decade is down to the pure spectacle of its release and something much more personal.

Now, I'll be brave here and share the fact that I've struggled with anxiety issues which centre around getting out and leaving the house, as well as an ever-present case of depression which has plagued my life for the last four or five years. I'm sure some of you reading this might have experienced similar, and will therefore know that a single little app could never eradicate such problems, but Pokémon GO has genuinely had a hugely positive impact on my health that I'll be forever grateful for. I'm not alone, either.

I've been playing it on and off since - *checks app* - September 2016, and while I'll sometimes ignore it for a few months at a time, it tends to serve as a form of relief when I'm at my worst. I vividly remember going through a period where my chest would tighten just from being five minutes or so from my home; GO somehow managed to distract me enough to beat that, with the idea of adding a rare Dratini to my collection being exciting enough to push past whatever was going on in my head. Similarly, on days where I'd usually wake up and be unable to get out of bed, here I was getting up nice and early to go on a walk. I know it doesn't make sense, but it's true.

Perhaps 'a distraction' is the perfect way to describe it. These days, no matter where you are or what you're doing, you tend to have your mobile on you and that means GO is only a loading screen away. Need an excuse to do some exercise? Go and play Pokémon GO. Need to have something to do while you're standing waiting for transport? Organise your Pokémon in Pokémon GO. Feeling awkward in the presence of someone you're not comfortable with? Whip out and talk about Pokémon GO - you know they're playing it, too. Importantly, the gameplay itself is good enough to make you want to keep on top of it, so loading it up so often never feels like a chore.

Different people may, of course, find entirely different things to help with their motivation, but there's one final part of this story that really is unique to Niantic's world-dominating release and wraps things up nicely. We're pretty used to the MMORPG format these days, or 'massively multiplayer online role-playing games', where players from all over the world interact with each other and share the same gaming experience. With GO's Raid Battles and Community Days, I've found myself chatting to complete strangers who share the same passion as me in a real-life setting, giving little knowing nods to each other as we walk around the same stretch of park for three hours trying to find a shiny Chikorita.

Never has a game so wonderfully connected a community on a global scale, and I never thought I'd see such a wide range of people, from toddlers to grandparents, all getting out and playing Pokémon together. From the perspective of someone who has adored Pokémon for 20 years, seeing masses of people roam around my local city, catching everything in sight, has been very strange but beautiful to behold. In the years to come, when we look back upon the key gaming moments of the 2010s, Pokémon GO will undoubtedly be right up there - and rightly so.

Ryan can list the first 151 Pokémon all in order off by heart – a feat he calls his ‘party trick’ despite being such an introvert that he’d never be found anywhere near a party. He’d much rather just have a night in with Mario Kart and a pizza, and we can’t say we blame him.

That first summer was absolutely insane. I was in my 5th year of high school and we roamed the streets during summer since there were so many Pokestops in our area. It was such a new concept and great fun in my group of friends. It might have faded but it was a cultural phenomenon and is partly why Pokemon is still the #1 highest selling media franchise of all time.

It's definitely an industry changer and indicative of the decade. And it did rattle the mainstream, so that's a plus.
Still, I'd rather give the award to Dark Souls (based on the NL list thus far) on business practice principle in addition to the fact that it was pretty bare bones in its first years.

Great pick, this game changed people's lives and got them to leave the house and socialize and meet new friends. Truly the best game ever made if it affected you. The game was a master piece, and one none have been able to copy.

You could say that the best game of any given decade is the one you spent the most time playing: if you didn't enjoy it you wouldn't keep coming back, right?

Pokémon Go is a gaming experience unlike any other. It has captured the imagination of a cross-generation of players unlike anything I've ever seen before. At my local park on a Sunday morning I will see couples of all ages, lone wolves, kids and the elderly all out hunting Pokémon and joining up for raids. The community is the best in the whole of gaming, probably helped a lot by the face to face aspects of gameplay. You don't see dexit nonsense from Pokémon Go players!

Community day is something else. I go to an inner city park with a horde of stops and there are easily 500+ players all out every month. There is even a lass who draws her own Pokemon badges who sets up a stall to sell her own merch and imported plushies you will not find in the shops.

For the sheer sense of community, the mental health aspects, the constant updates and events and the way it has captured the imaginations of millions of people who would never touch a games console I would call Pokémon Go the game of the decade.

Who needs the limitations of Hyrule when you have the whole of the earth to explore?

@ryancraddockBrave piece, Ryan, well done. I'm an endogenous depressive myself (from birth, genetic, non-triggered), and am sometimes very close to becoming house bound. Pokemon Go got me out of the house and even exploring, and the summer of 2016 was one of the most amazing summers I have ever had. It motivated me to make a stand, and push myself on a deeply personal and intrinsic level. No other game has ever done that.

I know this site doesn't review games in the right way and you get the scores wrong and it often has slow news days [ /sarcasm ] but I hope you know you have also built a strong community here that you are very much a respected part of.

On a much lower level to your anxiety, I'm not a people person. I'm not saying you'll always find me in the kitchen at parties, but that's because I'm usually at home with a good book.

PoGo though - I loved it. First noticing the Tribe transfixed by their phones, the same faces regularly as I did my tour of town. The head nods of acknowledgement slowly growing into chatting over the weeks. Then arranging up to meet for raids, disparate people at all stages of life meeting up, laughing and connecting.

It's brilliant.

Your social status, your job, your bank balance, age, sexuality or orientation or gender, your skin tone, faith or creed doesn't matter. All that does matter is if you got a shiny in that raid and I didn't. But hey! Let's just go to the next gym and try again, my PoGo friend.

It certainly had the biggest impact, reach and influence. So yeah might not be the best game of the decade in terms of gameplay but based on the popularity and somewhat cultural revolution it triggered . Yeah

I've only been playing Pokemon Go for about a year; I had a Windows Phone when it launched (so no game there lol) and didn't bother downloading it for some time after I finally switched to an Android device. I primarily started playing as a lone wolf (and still do most of the time) who wanted something to do while out speedwalking. By accident I stumbled on some of the local PoGo Community a few months ago and now join in for raid hour and the other occasional raid as well as the Community Days.

For someone who generally prefers single player games and was disillusioned with group play in MMOs long ago, this was and still is an amazing feeling. It's by no means my favorite game, but I do love the community aspect - at least here in my small-ish town - that comes with Pokemon Go.

@ryancraddock Bravo. I understand how hard it is to leave the house some days, let alone one's bed. I too deal with Sir Depression and his friend Freak Anxiety. It's been a little while since I've had a really low point, but man do those hurt.

I still feel like that first summer it was a downright phenomenon. I know there's more active accounts now and more revenue than ever, but aside from community days, it really doesn't feel like it's half as popular as 2016.

Now, all that being said, that first month or so was ROUGH. The game was crashing constantly and glitches were commonplace. It was barely even a functioning game.

But 2019 really stirred things up significantly. Adding Team Rocket encounters changed the dynamic of the game, and they even incorporated a final boss fight of sorts. And having your buddy Pokemon behave a little more like a Tomagatchi is an excellent move.

I can only imagine what would have happened if the game launched in it's current form. That one really bumpin summer could have kept it thriving beyond the initial hype.

@AnotherGoblin pop culture isn’t mathematical. A record that came out in 1950 is considered a 1950’s record. It’s grouped with ‘the 50’s’ decade and not ‘the 40’s’. So yes, year 0001 AD was sacrificed to naming aesthetics

I was probably too jaded already when it launched, because I only engaged with for like 15 minutes before shrugging and moving on. I knew a few people who got into it, but I don't think anyone stated engaged for longer than two weeks. What I found kind of curious though, is like the aftermath of it, if you will.

The way people described it to me, the social aspect of it, meeting people in unexpected ways, in a sense, strongly reminded me of my own experiences with playing DAoC and to an extend even WoW more than a decade prior. It's not the same thing obviously, but the fact that the game was more of facilitator than anything else, is a common thread, I think.

I understand the hype for Pokemon go because it did well and even got people playing that would usually turn their nose up at Pokémon so I can see why it would get game of the decade, however since 2010 there have been more games that I believe are better. Breath of the wild being one but hey that’s just my opinion

@ryancraddock - Reading comments sections always reminds me of a Russell Howard joke; "what did people do before the Internet? Write angry notes and attach them to the legs of pideons?"

And yeah, the comment section on reviews and news articles do seem to be filled with indignant people angry that the world isn't how they want.

I'm old and ugly enough (I remember when a 48k ZX Spectrum was a whole new, exciting thing) to be able to raise an eyebrow at most comments and move on, but I can imagine how frustrating or worse it must be for you and your fellow contributors.

So, file this comment in your happy file. You guys are appreciated. I check in here several times a day, and I'm sure a silent majority do too.

As for community - away from the shallow, insecure-yet-ego-driven toxicity of the front page, the forums are generally a very nice place.

Take a thread dedicated to one game, people ask questions and advice is freely given, it's friendly and the games are just celebrated. Which is what, I'm sure, we are all here for.

So once again, cheers and thank you and the other contributors for the site. You're appreciated.